Internet Explorer 7

Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 7, the first major upgrade to their web browser in many years. Microsoft has been behind the curve for quite some time in the browser market, so it includes some features such as "tabbed browsing" to bring it more in line with Firefox, Opera, Safari and other browsers. It even includes some neat new features such as the Quick Tabs feature that shows thumbnail images of all open websites (in case you get lost!)

More importantly, Internet Explorer 7 includes some badly needed security features that should cut down on spyware and "spoofed" websites. This is definitely a feature that is sorely needed and long overdue.

If you use Windows XP, you will automatically receive the upgrade to Internet Explorer 7 starting next week if you have Automatic Updates turned on. There’s no good way to disable this feature; turning Automatic Updates off will prevent you from receiving security patches down the road. We recommend accepting the upgrade, though it does take quite some time to install.

Because it is new code, it may handle some websites incorrectly at first. Don’t worry- because everybody is getting the upgrade the onus is on the web application developers to fix their code as soon as possible. But if you know Internet Explorer 7 is not going to work with your web-based application, or banking application, or other critical service, DON’T upgrade – and turn Automatic Updates off for a few weeks while the developers sort out the problems. If you’re not sure contact your application vendor.

If you’d like to download & run Internet Explorer 7 now, visit this link:

http://www.microsoft.com/ie

Firefox 2.0

Firefox, the free browser that runs on any computer (even Linux and Mac OS X) just reached a huge milestone – version 2.0. It outdoes Internet Explorer 7 across the board, and doesn’t behave differently to websites (unlike Internet Explorer 7) so it should be safe to upgrade to this. Besides, it weighs in at a fraction of the size and download time as Internet Explorer 7, and installs in a flash.

Firefox includes all previous features and adds a number of excellent anti-phishing features (like Internet Explorer 7) and lots of new speed & user interface polish. I highly recommend everyone use this as their default browser.

http://www.getfirefox.com

Questions? Please post them below – we’ve got answers!

              -Brian

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